“The mantra that PM gave us was – Reform, Perform and Transform”: Shri Mahesh Sharma

48 Months of Transforming India under the leadership of PM Narendra Modi

Back in 2014, India had reached a situation where incremental changes were not enough to fulfil the aspirations of the citizens of this country. When Modi government came to power in 2014, hon’ble prime minister gave us a Mantra of governance. This mantra was – “Reform, Perform and Transform”.

If I talk about the reforms, this government focused on small things which has the power to bring big changes in the society.

The first thing government did was to have faith in it’s own citizens. Modi government made the “self-attestation” as an acceptable practice in Government documentation requirements, removing the need of attestation from public representatives or gazette officers. Government also scrapped thousands of unwanted rules that were more of a burden. Modi Government scraped interview process for all non-gazetted junior level posts in central government. Eradication of interview process will ensure that the recruitment process is transparent and based upon merit, removing influence of middlemen in the recruitment process, and speeding up the hiring process.

If we look at Performance wise, it can be judged very objectively from various performance indicators. From the economy perspective, our country is in a much better position. Inflation has been continuously in check, forex reserve is historically all time high, foreign direct investment has shot up, GDP is growing and forecasted to be even better in the coming times.

In the earlier times of the UPA regime, around 17km of roads were built per day. Currently, over 40 km of roads are being constructed daily, rail network and renovation is much faster. Similarly, the pace of rural electrification has been quickest in India’s history. It is historic that all villages have now been connected to the grid. There is a long list of such performances but that’s not the objective of my blog here.

Apart from the regular reforms and high level of performances in all the sectors, Modi government in the last 4 years has taken some historical decisions, bold enough not to be attempted by any previous government in the history of independent India. For example – Demonetization and One Nation, One Tax i.e. GST etc.

Most Impactful initiatives and Schemes of MoC

1. On all 116 ticketed monuments and 32 museums under the protection of ASI, E-ticketing facility has been launched with the aim of providing online booking facility for the visitors. Online booking of entry tickets for all 116 ticketed monuments and 30 museums have been provided.

2. Polythene Free Monuments: All ASI Protected Historical Monuments and Archaeological Sites have been declared ‘Polythene Free Zones’. Advisory was issued to all State Governments/UTs to support ASI in keeping Monuments Polythene Free, up to 300 meters, from the protected boundaries of the Monuments.

3. World Heritage:

In the last 4 years, 11 Indian Heritages has been included in the UNESCO’s world heritage list, Creative Cities Network (CCN) and Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

Historically, it is for the first time that any Indian city made it to the World Heritage City List. Ahmedabad joins Paris, Cairo, Vienna, Rome and Edinburgh as cities which have UNESCO’s World Heritage City tag.

Also in another first, The City of Varanasi and Jaipur have been declared by UNESCO as the first two Indian cities to be part of the UNESCO Creative Cities network.

S.NO.

Heritage Name

UNESCO Inscription Type

Year

1.

Rani Ki Vav (Gujarat)

World Heritage List

2014

2.

Great Himalayan National Park (Himachal Pradesh)

World Heritage List

2014

3.

Varanasi

Creative Cities Network as the Creative City of Music

2015

4.

Jaipur

Creative Cities Network as the City of Crafts and Folk Art

2015

5.

The Excavated Remains at Nalanda

World Heritage List

2016

6.

Khangchendzonga National Park, Sikkim

World Heritage List

2016

7.

The Capitol Complex in Chandigarh

World Heritage List

2016

8.

Yoga

Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

2016

9.

Ahmedabad

World Heritage City

2017

10.

Chennai

Creative Cities Network as the Creative City of Music

2017

11.

Kumbh Mela

Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’

2017

4. Retrieval of stolen antiques from abroad

25 stolen antiques have been recovered from the various countries in the last 4 years against the 13 recoveries made in 37 years from 1976 to 2013.

18 antiquities have been returned to India from USA.

One Bronze object of Natraja and one Stone object of Ardhanarishwara, seated images of Buddha, Pratayangira and Buddha panel from Australia have been retrieved. One stone object of Parrot Lady from Canada and one stone object of Durga from Germany have also been retrieved. Uma Parameshwari Sculpture from Singapore and Stone Sculpture of Brahma and Brahamani from United Kingdom have also been retrieved.

5. Ease of Doing business

To bring transparency and facilitate the permissions for building construction, National Monuments Authority (NMA)’s launched a Web Portal called “NOC Online Application and Processing System (NOAPS)” and a user- friendly Mobile App.

NMA has also integrated it’s online web portal with the Urban Local Bodies of Delhi and Mumbai to facilitate “Ease of Doing Business” and now the applicants have to make only one application in a Common Application Format to the MCD and NDMC in Delhi and to MCGM in Mumbai, for seeking permission for building construction.

Result:

The NOC is now being provided to the applicant in six working days, as against three months earlier.

Sanskriti App: Sanskriti is a Mobile App to view cultural events of India. The main categories of events that can be viewed are Music, Theatre, Dance, Exhibitions, Film Shows, Literature, Lectures and Programs for children.

Sanskriti Mobile app is available on leading app store such as Google Play

6. Cultural Mapping of India

The “Cultural Mapping of India” Scheme is bringing millions of artists from every nook and corner of the country on a single platform.

Data is being collected both offline and online. To collect online data from artists, a web portal has been launched (http://culturalmapping.nic.in )

Till date data on more than 1 Crore artists have been collected.

7. Preserving our Heritage for future generations

In order to preserve our cultural heritage for future generations, we took up a project named as JATAN in collaboration with C-DAC, Pune for creating an online digital repository of museum collections on the national portal www.museumsofindia.gov.in

Till now, 1,08,881 art objects have been digitized and uploaded on the portal for public viewing.

In the similar manner, ancient Manuscripts are our key cultural resources. We started the “National Mission for Manuscripts” and started the process of documentation and digitalization.

Over 43 Lakh manuscripts have been documented so far and approximately 2.83 Lakh manuscripts consisting of over 3 Crore pages have been digitalized.

Digitization of records and open access to archival resources has been taken up in a big way.

National Archives of India has launched it’s online search portal “Abhilekh – Patal” on its 125th Foundation Day on 11th March, 2015. 2.3 million catalogue entries and 12000 digital images have been uploaded. About 15 lakh pages have already been digitized and more projects are underway.

8. Release of Netaji Files

Meeting the long standing demand of the people of our country, we have put the files related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in public domain at www.netajipapers.gov.in

On the occasion of 119th birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Hon’ble Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi released a set of 100 declassified files at National Archives of India (NAI) on 23 January 2016.

Till date all 303 files received from PMO, MHA and MEA has been released by National Archives of India.

Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav” is the National Cultural Festival of India conceptualized by Ministry of Culture in 2015 with an objective of preserving, promoting & popularizing the heritage of Indian Spirit, reconnecting the new generation with our culture and to showcase to the country and the world our soft power of unity in diversity.

The first “Rashtriya Sanskriti Mahotsav”, was organized at Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA), Janpath, New Delhi from 1st to 8th November, 2015. While the latest 8th edition of RSM was organized in Madhya Pradesh at Maan Mandir Fort, Gwalior , Bhopal and Indore from 24th to 28th February, 2018.

10. Theatre Olympics

The National School of Drama under the aegis of Ministry of Culture hosted the 8th edition of the greatest carnival of Theatre in the World for the first time from Feb 17-April 8, 2018 simultaneously in 15 cities across the country. 500 plays and 700 ambience-performances from across the world was staged with allied activities like exhibitions, seminars, symposia, interactive discussions and workshops.

Now book an entry Ticket for museums or monuments from comfort of your home.

Due to e-ticketing and swipe machines time on ticket window reduced significantly making queues shorter.

Grants are being processed using structured and secured computerized system and reaching directly to the beneficiaries.

2.

Ease of doing business and Commitment to public interest

Online facility for grant of NOC for construction work around the centrally protected monuments has been started with three Municipal Corporations of Delhi and Greater Mumbai.

The NOC is now being provided to the applicant in six working days, as against three months earlier.

3.

Preserving our cultural heritage for future generations

Digitalization of cultural assets including antiquities, manuscripts, documents and archives

Till now, 1,08,881 art objects have been digitized and uploaded on the portal for public viewing.

Over 43 Lakh manuscripts have been documented so far and approximately 2.83 Lakh manuscripts consisting of over 3 Crore pages have been digitalized.

Approximately 3.15 lakhs antiquities have been uploaded on the website of National Mission on Monuments and Antiquities

4.

Build institutions for today and tomorrow.

Started to build institutions with futuristic view to preserve, promote and propagate our culture

Institute of Archaeology is under construction at Greater Noida(UP).

Institute of Archival Studies is under construction at NOIDA

5.

How to popularize our cultural heritage of Indian Spirit with the new generation

Conceptualized Rashtriya Sanskrati Mahotsav in 2015 with an objective of preserving, promoting & popularizing the heritage of Indian Spirit

Ensured the Government itself directly reaches out to the people

Rashtriya Sanskrati Mahotsav has been successfully organized 8 times in different states and cities carrying the plurality of our culture on a grand level.

6.

Encourage Openness in the Government, Transparency in working

Cultural mapping of India is to build a repository of artists across the country and present them the opportunities.

All the Schemes are open for all citizens of India without any discrimination of any kind.

With Sanskriti Mobile App,one can view cultural events of India

Till date, data on more than 1 Crore artists has been collected.

ASI excavation work can be seen online via web portal

Approx. 75% people rate the work of Ministry of culture as excellent and 15% as very good. Here is Feedback received on the official Facebook page of the Ministry of Culture from the followers –

Some memorable experiences and stories of citizens

1. Surmani Bhimanna Jadhav took Sundri to the world with little help from MoC

Surmani Bhimanna Jadhav, a renowned world-class Sundri Player received financial assistance under CFPGS grants. Sundri is a rare and unique wind instrument invented, nourished, developed and restricted to Jadhav family through the past generations. But Bhimmana has glorified this instrument by crossing the boundaries of India by performing his art in France and Belgium.

Bhimanna has now established ‘Sundri Samrat Sidram Jadhav & Pt. Chidanand Jadhav Sangeet Vidyalaya’ where he has been training many would be maestros.

2. How Scholarship from MoC helped Joyshree Singha realize her dreams

The Scholarship from MoC helped Joyshree Singha in securing a Folk Degree in Dance from Folklore Academy under North Bengal University. She got an opportunity as dance instructor of Koch Rajbangshi cultural society and participated in several cultural camp as an instructor and now she is trying to folk culture in the society.

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